Dricus Du Plessis made a winning return to the UFC, defeating Nigeria's Kamaru Usman by unanimous decision in the middleweight main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Oklahoma City. The judges scored the bout 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 in favour of Du Plessis (24-3 MMA), who won his first nine UFC bouts and held the middleweight belt from January 2024 until mid-August 2025. This was his first fight in nearly a year, reports infohub.kz.
Du Plessis hadn't fought since that win streak was snapped by Khamzat Chimaev, who remains champion. "I had to get up," the 32-year-old said. "There's so many South African kids that look up to me. It's bigger than me, I can't go lie down."
In a fight fought upright with no successful takedowns or submission attempts, Du Plessis didn't appear rusty whatsoever, finishing with a convincing 139-99 edge in total strikes and landing 136 significant strikes to Usman's 92.
Usman (21-5) was the UFC welterweight champion for nearly three years from March 2019 to November 2021. However, the Nigerian, 39, has lost four of his last five fights, and couldn't add a second straight win with his first fight in 13 months this weekend.
In the middleweight co-main event, England's Christian Leroy Duncan (15-2) defeated Jared Cannonier (18-10) via unanimous decision. The scorecards read 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 for Duncan.